Mend-Ooyo Gombojav

Mend-Ooyo Gombojav is a Mongolian writer, poet and calligraphist.

He was born into a herder's family in Dariganga, Sükhbaatar, Mongolia, in 1952.

Mend-Ooyo lives in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and directs the Mongolian Academy of Culture and Poetry.

Mend-Ooyo is quoted saying: "My life is the mirror of Mongolia. I grew up in the classic nomadic way of life, then moved to the city. But even after all these years I am not a city person. All my dreams are about the countryside, and I feel like I am living in a birdcage. Now I am planning to move back to the countryside. I just hope Mongolia will too."

He started his career in 1970, as an elementary school teacher in the border village of Zamiin Uud, Dornogovi aimag, in the far south east of Mongolia.

In the late 1970s, he was one of the founder members of the underground literary group GAL (Fire).

Mend-Ooyo explained that at the time, communist censors wouldn't let groups meet.

"They were always watching us, so we had to be very careful and meet in people's homes at night."

The GAL group, active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, included mainly Mend-Ooyo, Ochirbatyn Dashbalbar and D.Nyamsüren.

Though GAL was "organised around the so-called Dariganga Three", others were at times involved as well.

According to Simon Wickham-Smith, they "came to dominate the poetry scene during the subsequent ten or fifteen years, and their work is vital for a proper understanding of recent literary history in Mongolia."

For ten years, from 1978, he was the editor-in-chief for the arts and cultural programmes on Mongolian State radio and television, In 1988 he became a professional writer with the Mongolian Writer's Union.

GAL transformed during the 1980s into an "independent flow of literary writing called GUNU", whose writers "nowadays exercise(s) the greatest influence on Mongolian literature."

In the 1980s, Mend-Ooyo was allowed to publish some of his poetry after it was vetted by officials.

In 1980, he published his first book of poetry, The Bird of Thought.

Many were to follow.

Later, in 1988, Mend-Ooyo became a member of the Mongolian Writers' Union.

After the 1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia, Mend-Ooyo became the Chief Project Lead and driving force behind the reconstruction of the Migjid Janraisig complex at Gandantegchinlen Monastery in Ulaanbaatar.

At that time he was also a member of the Mongolian National Committee of UNESCO, and, successively, executive director, vice-president and president of the Mongolian Cultural Foundation.

After the 1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia and the end of single-party communist rule, he started to publish more of his work, "including the writing that espoused his pastoral roots and eventually became his best-known poems."

Since his first book, he has published over twenty other books of poetry, and over a dozen novels and children's books.

Altan Ovoo (Golden Hill) is an ongoing work of poetic fiction that has become one of the most influential pieces of contemporary Mongolian literature.

First published in 1993, its fifth edition was published in 2010.

In 1996, Mend-Ooyo earned a Master's degree at the University of Arts and Culture in Mongolia.

From 1998-2000 he sat as Chairman of the governmental Culture and Arts Agency.

In 2002 he became Life member of the World Academy of Arts and Culture.

In 2002, he was granted a Doctorate of Literature by the World Academy of Arts and Culture.

In 2004 he joined the board of the Mongolian Art Council.

In 2005 he founded the Mongolian culture, literature and poetry magazine GUNU, for which he also acted as the editor-in-chief.

In that same year he became president of the Mongolian Academy of Culture and Poetry.

In 2006 he became the President of the 26th World Congress of Poets in Mongolia.

In 2008, he became professor of Arts and Culture at the Institute of International Studies of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.

He joined in fellow residency program in Civitella Ranieri Foundation in 2014, and also led the World Poetry Days in Mongolia in 2017.

In 2015, the University of Arts and Culture, Mongolia granted him Honorary doctor for his achievement in literature.

Mend-Ooyo started writing poems at the age of thirteen.

In an interview for the WSJ he explains he became interested in writing, thanks in part to Dorjiin Gombojav.

D.Gombojav was a controversial poet and translator who had alienated officials in Ulaanbaatar.

He was sent, as punishment, to teach at the remote rural school Mend-Ooyo attended.

Mend-Ooyo related to the interviewer that he wrote his first lines of poetry under D.Gombojav's guidance.

"He taught me the importance of Mongolian language and our traditions," he says.